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May 30, 1999
. . . Patients are about to be recruited for the first trials of the new drug-and-light treatment. If these go well, patients could be treated easily in GPs' surgeries within two years.
Conventional treatment involves the use of surgery to
remove the tumour tissue but researchers at the Leeds
Centre for Photobiology and Photodynamic Therapy are
trying a different approach to tackling basal cell carcinoma
using a new drug that can penetrate deep into the
skin. . . .
The new drug therapy it has developed is based on a naturally occurring material made up into a cream that is rubbed into the areas of skin around the tumour, which can be several millimetres deep. . . . Once the tumour has soaked up the drug, the area of skin is exposed to red light from a laser or red lamp. As the drug has now become photosensitive it is activated by the light and begins to kill off the cancerous cells that have absorbed it. Over a period of about four weeks the tumour will be destroyed, with no need for surgery or any other form of treatment. The eventual aim is to have the drug-light treatment available in GPs' surgeries as a quick, effective, inexpensive and less traumatic way of tackling the growing problem of skin cancer.
In trials on another form of skin cancer, Bowen's disease, a success rate of 90% has already been achieved by the Leeds team. The researchers are also working with a number of other clinical centres, including Liverpool and Glasgow, on the project. Brown believes the therapy could be widely available within two years. . . .
Photodynamic therapy is now an accepted therapy, not just for cancer but for other diseases, too. "There will be strong pressure to develop new drugs and light sources and find new clinical applications," says Brown.
Excerpted from The Sunday Times, 30 May 1999
Roger Dobson, "Light-sensitive cream can tackle skin cancer"